The 2B9 Vasilek (''2Б9 "Василёк" -

Cornflower ''Centaurea cyanus'', commonly known as cornflower or bachelor's button (among other names), is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe. In the past, it often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of "co ...

'') also known as Vasilyek, AM 289 Vasilyek or AM 2B9 Vasilyek, is an automatic 82 mm gun-mortar developed in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1967 and fielded with the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

in 1970.

Description

It was based on the F-82 automatic mortar. The 2B9 is a semiautomatic breechloader that makes use of 4-round clips or is loaded with individual rounds. Rounds can be loaded from either the muzzle or the breech. Because of its wheeled carriage, the 2B9 resembles a light artillery piece more than a conventional mortar. The 2B9 was used in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

by Soviet units and is still found in Russian airmobile infantry units. In the fighting in Afghanistan, Soviet units found the 2B9 to be a versatile and useful weapon. The 2B9 can fire high-explosive, armor-piercing, smoke, and illumination rounds. The armor-piercing projectile, which weighs , has a warhead that can penetrate of armor. Upon blast, the high-explosive shell produces 400 to 600 fragments. The 2B9 can be towed but is usually carried on a modified

GAZ-66 The GAZ-66 is a Soviet Union, Soviet and later Russian four wheel drive, 4x4 all-road (off-road) military truck produced by GAZ. It was one of the main cargo vehicles for motorized infantry of the Soviet Army and is still employed in former Sovi ...

military truck. By 1988, the 2B9 was also deployed as a self-propelled weapon by mounting the gun-mortar in the rear of an

MT-LB The MT-LB (, literally "multi-purpose towing vehicle light armored") is a Soviet Union, Soviet multi-purpose, fully amphibious vehicle, amphibious, tracked Armoured fighting vehicle, armored fighting vehicle in use since the 1970s. It was also ...

armored personnel carrier. During the Syrian Civil War, the 2B9M Vasilek was used by the

Syrian Armed Forces The Syrian Armed Forces () are the military forces of Syria. Up until the fall of Bashar al-Assad's Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Ba'ath Party Ba'athist Syria, regime in December 2024, the Syrian Arab Armed Forces were the sta ...

, Kurdish

People's Protection Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurds in Syria, Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostl ...

, and the Islamist group Ansar al-Sham. The latter used a 2B9M automatic mortar near Mount Chalma, Kesab district.

Variants

* 2B9 Vasilek – Basic model ** 2B9M Vasilek – Modernised version introduced in 1982, and adopted in 1983. * DE-82 − upgraded Hungarian version developed in 1987. * Type W99 – 2B9 Vasilek produced in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (an abbreviation of "North Industries Corporation"), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese ...

. * Scorpion − In 2004, the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

with the assistance of

Picatinny Arsenal The Picatinny Arsenal ( or ) is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on of land in Jefferson and Rockaway Townships in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, encompassing Picatinny Lake and Lake Denmark. The ...

engineers, fitted a Hungarian-supplied 2B9 Vasilek into the rear of a

Humvee The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of Military light utility vehicle, light, four-wheel drive Military vehicle#Military trucks, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It ...

chassis as a

proof of concept A proof of concept (POC or PoC), also known as proof of principle, is an inchoate realization of a certain idea or method in order to demonstrate its feasibility or viability. A proof of concept is usually small and may or may not be complete ...

for the Army and

Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

. It can carry 191 rounds and the armoured cab provides ballistic and blast overpressure protection for the crew. Ultimately, it wasn't adopted by the Army.

Operators

Current

* * * * * * * * * – Used by both government and rebel forces in the Syrian Civil War * * – Used by both government and

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR; , ) is Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, occupied territory in Ukraine that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex and declared as a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia, comprising parts o ...

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR; , ) is a disputed territory administered as a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitar ...

forces in the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

How the "Cornflower" fires 13/11/14.
''Novorossia TV''. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014. *

Former

* − Also used by

Army of Republika Srpska The Army of Republika Srpska (; ВРС/VRS), commonly referred to in English as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of Republika Srpska, the self-proclaimed Serb secessionist republic, a territory within the newly independent Bosnia and Herz ...

* − Also used by the HVO * *

Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance ( ''Da Šumāl E'tilāf'' or ''Ettehād Šumāl''), officially known as the United National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( ''Jabha-ye Muttahid-e barāye Afğānistān''), was a military alliance of groups that op ...

− Reported * * * – Passed down to successor states.

Evaluation-only

* − A HMMWV fitted with a 2B9 Vasilek entered trials in 2004 for the US Army and Marine Corps, but it wasn't accepted for service

Notes

Citations

References

* * *

External links

www.janes.com

armamentresearch.com/soviet-2b9m-vasilek-self-loading-mortar/
{{SovArtyColdWar Cold War artillery of the Soviet Union Mortars of the Soviet Union Infantry mortars 82 mm artillery 82 mm mortars Gun-mortars Military equipment introduced in the 1970s